Ancient Rome and Greece
Tear bottles are said to have originated in ancient Rome around the first century AD. People in ancient Rome and Greece used these bottles to collect tears shed during mourning. These tears were often buried with the deceased, symbolizing love and respect. In these cultures, sometimes "professional mourners" were paid to cry into tear bottles while mourning in funeral processions.

古罗马和古希腊
据说泪瓶起源于公元一世纪左右的古罗马。古罗马和古希腊的人们用这种瓶子收集哀悼时流下的眼泪。这些眼泪通常与逝者一起埋葬，象征着爱和尊敬。在这些文化中，有时会付钱给 “职业送葬者”，让他们在送葬队伍中哭哭啼啼时对着泪瓶哭泣。

 

Middle East
Tear bottles also exist in Middle Eastern culture. During Biblical times, mourners would often collect tears in small bottles and place them in graves to express their grief. Ancient Arabic poetry and Persian poetry have long traditions discussing tears. Many poems describe tears of blood (crying until the eyes bleed) or crying enough to cleanse the body for burial. There is a Persian word for "tear bottle": Ashk-daan, but these items seem to be archaeological finds, like tear bottles, in historical artifacts or graves, rather than being used in current or 19th-century contexts.

中东
泪瓶也存在于中东文化中。在圣经时代，哀悼者通常会把眼泪收集在小瓶子里，然后把它们放在坟墓里，以此来表达他们的悲痛之情。
古代阿拉伯诗歌和波斯诗歌都有长久的传统讨论眼泪。许多描写流血泪水（哭得眼睛出血）或哭得足以洗净身体以备埋葬的诗篇。波斯语中有一个词表示“眼泪瓶”：Ashk-daan，但这些物品似乎像泪瓶一样，是历史物品或墓葬中的考古发现，而不是当前或19世纪的使用。

Victorian era
During the Victorian era (19th century), tear bottles experienced a resurgence in popularity. It is worth noting that the Victorian period was marked by mourning fashion and trends. During this period, tear bottles were typically made of materials such as glass, porcelain, or silver, and adorned with intricate designs. They were not only associated with mourning but also with expressions of love. Exchanging tear bottles between lovers was common, symbolizing the preciousness of tears. Those mourning the loss of loved ones would collect their tears, and special stoppers allowed the tears to evaporate. Once the tears were gone, the period of mourning would end. One book, without citing its source, describes how mourners mixed their tears in one bottle and how wives left at home during the Civil War collected their tears to prove their longing for their husbands on the battlefield.

维多利亚时代
泪瓶在维多利亚时代（19世纪）重新流行起来。值得注意的是维多利亚时期有着哀悼的时尚和潮流。在这一时期，泪瓶通常采用玻璃、瓷器或银器等材料制作，并带有复杂的图案。它们不仅与哀悼有关，还与爱的情感表达有关。恋人之间交换泪瓶是很常见的事情，象征着眼泪的珍贵。那些悼念逝去亲人的人们会把眼泪收集起来，特制的瓶塞可以让眼泪蒸发。眼泪流尽后，哀悼期也就结束。一本书描述了——没有引用来源——哀悼者如何在一个瓶子中混合他们的眼泪，以及在内战期间留在家中的妻子如何收集她们的眼泪，以证明她们思念战场上丈夫的事实。

There are also some legends about tear bottles:

In a distant age, sailors often went on long journeys, leaving their wives behind in tears when bidding farewell. Due to the lack of photography or other means of communication at the time, people still wished to bring back mementos from their homeland, thus the small tear bottle was born. Placed at the corner of the eye, the bottle could capture tears. People embarked on their voyages with this precious memento. If someone was moved to tears, they could use this method to express sympathy. Another example is from the Otago Daily Times on November 24, 1884: page 4, which describes the use of tear bottles as talismans: "They bottle tears still in Persia. At funerals, when mourners sit together weeping, little wads of cotton are passed around to wipe the cheeks, and then the tears are squeezed into the bottle, as a talisman and used for reviving fainting persons. This practice was once universal, for every ancient tomb has its tear bottle."

还有一些关于泪水瓶的小传说：

在某个遥远的年代，水手们经常长期不归，在告别时，留下的妇女们会痛哭流涕。由于当时缺乏摄影或其他通讯手段，人们仍然希望从家乡带回纪念品，小泪瓶就这样诞生了。瓶口放在眼角，这样就能捕捉到眼泪。人们带着这个珍贵的小纪念品远航。如果有人感动得流泪了，就可以用这种方式向他表示同情。又或者 Otago Daily Times 1884年11月24日：第4页描述了眼水瓶作为护身符的使用:

他们在波斯仍然装瓶眼泪。在葬礼上，当悼念者坐在一起哭泣时，人们会递过一团团的棉花，用它来擦拭脸颊，然后将眼泪挤入瓶中，用作护身符并用于唤醒奄奄一息的人。这种做法曾经是普遍存在的，因为每座古老的坟墓都有一个眼泪瓶。

While ancient artifacts sometimes referred to as "tear bottles" indeed exist, I am not sure if modern archaeologists would agree that they were used for tears. They could be small vials or oil flasks. In recent years, the application of investigative techniques unavailable to 19th-century archaeologists has confirmed that these so-called "tear bottles" contain oily substances, perhaps aromatic ointments used for libations or anointing the deceased. Strangely, this theory existed before modern chemical analysis, but the idea that these ancient bottles were "tear catchers" had become so ingrained that a strange and misogynistic theory had to be created to explain the actual contents, as shown in the Daily Arkansas Gazette [Little Rock AK] on July 13, 1913, page 29: "Centuries ago, the 'tear bottles' carried by Oriental women revealed the hypocrisy of these females. Some of these bottles have been included in a lot of glassware purchased for $13,000 for the use of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Fashionable women of a thousand years ago, as depicted in ancient paintings and histories, were shown carrying 'tear bottles' to vent grief in public. It is now discovered that when a woman raised one of these bottles to her eyes, she was powdering her cheeks." 

虽然有时被称为“眼泪瓶”的古代手工艺品确实存在，但我不知道现代考古学家是否会同意它们是用于眼泪的。它们可能是小瓶或香油瓶。在过去几年里，对于十九世纪考古学家无法使用的调查技术的应用已经确认，这些所谓的“眼泪瓶”含有油性物质，也许是芬芳的膏剂，用作奠酒或为死者涂抹。奇怪的是，这个理论在现代化学分析之前就已经存在，但是对于这些古老的瓶子是“眼泪收纳瓶”的想法已经根深蒂固，以至于不得不创造一种奇怪而厌恶女性的理论来解释实际内容，正如1913年7月13日的Daily Arkansas Gazette [Little Rock AK]第29页所示：

几个世纪前，东方的女性携带的“眼泪瓶”揭示了这些女性的虚伪。这些瓶子中的一些已经包括在一批以13000美元的价格购买的玻璃器皿中，供宾夕法尼亚大学博物馆使用。在1000年前的古代画作和历史中，时尚女性被描绘为携带“眼泪瓶”以在公共场合宣泄悲伤。现在发现，当女性将其中一个瓶子举到眼前时，她是在脸颊上抹粉末。

 

Examination of "tear bottles" in museum collections has revealed traces of rouge, powder, and cold cream still adhering to the glass bottoms. Many of the cream jars and oil flasks with wonderful designs and colors found on dressing tables in ancient Egyptian tombs have become even more beautiful after lying in the earth for centuries. In the 19th century, there were numerous (possibly fictional) stories circulating about the use of tear bottles from exotic regions. The Newark [New Jersey] Advocate, August 5, 1850, page 2, reported: "It is a custom among the Chinese to have a tear bottle. When two lower class ladies or women quarrel, they go to the magistrate. If she can fill the bottle with her tears, the magistrate says, 'I know you have been harshly treated. I will punish the one who oppressed you severely.' If she can only fill it halfway, the punishment is halved, but if she cannot shed a single tear, there is no punishment at all."

对博物馆收藏中的“眼泪瓶”的检查发现，玻璃底部仍然附有胭脂、粉末和冷霜的痕迹。博物馆中有许多奇妙设计和颜色的梳妆台上的面霜罐和油罐，它们在埃及城市的古墓中躺了许多世纪后变得更加美丽。

在19世纪，关于来自异国情调地区的关于使用眼泪瓶的（可能是）虚构的故事屡见不鲜。纽瓦克[新泽西州]《每日倡导者报》1850年8月5日第2页曾经报道：中国人的习俗是有一个泪瓶。当两个下层的女士或妇女吵架时，她们就会去找县官。如果她能把泪水装满，县官就会说，”我知道你受到了苛刻的对待。我将对欺压你的人施以重罚”。”如果她只能流满一半，惩罚就减为一半，但如果她一滴眼泪也流不出来，就根本没有惩罚。

As part of this project, artists exchanged the above stories and legends with friends and compiled the following "Tear Bottle Stories Collection," enriching the various facets of tears.   作为这个项目的一部分，艺术家用以上的故事和传说与周围的朋友交换到了下面的“泪水瓶故事集”，丰富了眼泪的不同面向。